Posts tagged Stress
What is Meditation?
Sep 19th
Meditation is the feeling of oneness, where there is no separation between you and wherever you place your attention. It’s like you dive into the moment with all your being. You then go beyond the sensations to merge completely with the experience itself.
A Natural State
Meditation can be experienced naturally in many different ways. You get the feeling of deep relaxation and having a greater focus and awareness without attachment. You may be contemplating, praying, walking in nature, enjoying beautiful music or romancing with your beloved. I could go on and on.
For example, ever since I was a little girl, when I get deeply into a project that I really love, my regular mind stops chattering. It’s like I have released it from all its conditioning and stress. A feeling of peace and calm comes over me, and nothing seems to get in the way. And, I am able to see the solution to what I’m setting out to do, even before I have begun.
Regular Practice
I realize that I have been meditating much of my life without even knowing that is what I was doing. Studying about it and taking meditation classes has helped me return to those meditative states in a more conscious way. I now experience them more regularly and on demand, whenever the situation warrants it.
Most people have glimpses of these “greater than ordinary” moments, but often they are fleeting and soon get forgotten in the turmoil and stress of daily living. That is why, especially today, I am grateful to have consciously re-learned meditation, so I can access this natural state more easily and deeply.
Watching Your Breath
I enjoy showing others how they can access this state too. For example, here is a simple “Watching Your Breath” Meditation:
Sit quietly on a straight chair, with your feet touching the floor.Place your hands gently on your lap, unclenched and relaxed.Gently close your eyes and focus on the space between your eyebrows without effort.Breathe slowly in and out, filling your belly to fullness on the in-breath and emptying your belly on the out-breath.Watch your breathing without effort as you settle into a slow rhythm.If thoughts come in, just observe them and let them go on each out-breath.Continue to breathe and watch your breath without attachment.Feel the peace of the experience as you empty your mind with your breath. Stay there for as long as you’re comfortable (5 to 15 minutes).Slowly open your eyes and wiggle your fingers and toes to bring yourself back into ordinary consciousness. Take a few more grounding breaths before returning to your other work.
Whenever you are stressed out or stuck on a problem, this simple little exercise can free your awareness so you can uncover solutions that were just waiting for you to realize them.
Remember, meditation is your natural state. Stress is not natural. It robs you of that natural state. But now you can actually catch the stress in mid-flight, so to speak, and let your breath take you back into your natural state any time you want. How cool is that?
3 Age-Old Benefits of Meditation!
Sep 17th
Isn’t it time you began a daily meditation practice in order to transform and empower your life in so many different ways?
Perhaps, you haven’t been exposed to or heard about many of the different benefits that practicing meditation can bring into your life.
In this article you will discover 3 age-old benefits that many people have experienced from practicing meditation daily.
3 Age-Old Benefits of Meditation!
Age-Old Meditation Benefit #1 – Helps you create and make life-supporting decisions that ultimately lead you to the most happiness.
Let’s be honest when it comes to making decisions about your life oftentimes you have to choose between what you think will make you happy and what really will make you happy.
Of course, the challenge is in trying to figure out which is which. Yet, what you will discover when you begin to practice meditation daily is that you are able to see everything clearly and make informed and empowering decisions
Age-Old Meditation Benefit #2 – Helps realign your body and mind to your true nature - While everyone pretty much recognizes the mental benefits that come from meditation they often overlook how meditation also helps realign your body to its true nature.
Perhaps you are wondering how it does this exactly.
One reason is when you are stressed and tense all the time your muscles tend to tighten and distort your natural state. Once you begin to practice meditation on a daily basis your muscles tend to relax and overtime helps you to relax back into and within your bodily state.
Age-Old Meditation Benefit #3 – Capable of handling stressful situations with more ease and more importantly come up with creative solutions to the challenges in your life.
Whether you are consciously aware of it or not stress interferes with your creative abilities to find solutions in your life. While it is true that some stress in your life is a good thing. Being stressed out about the same situation and just being “stuck on” that stressful situation, serves no empowering purpose in your life.
Yet, when you begin a meditation practice and the stress in your life starts becoming less and less it is amazing how you being to find yourself coming up with solutions to problems and challenges that used to get the best of you and overwhelm you.
In the end, there are a variety of different reasons why you should begin to practice meditation on a daily basis and of course the only way you can experience those benefits is by practicing the practice of meditation now.
